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The assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis on Friday evening, April 4, 1968, precipitated a national crisis of rioting, arson and looting in urban centers throughout the nation. It also led to prayers and mourning in thousands of churches.

President Lyndon Johnson ordered the American flag flown at half-mast and proclaimed April 7 a national day of mourning. While rioting erupted in North Carolina, where the National Guard was called out in almost every major city, South Carolina was calmer. In Greenville, a march of both black and white young people moved from Broad Street to Washington to Main.

Israel Metropolitan Church overflowed for a bi-racial Sunday evening service of mourning that included ministers from Allen Temple, St. Philips Episcopal, Our Lady of the Rosary and the Rabbi at Temple Beth Israel.

In the weeks following the tragedy, The Greenville News received hundreds of letters to the editor about King and his murder. Some were virulent and nasty, demanding to know, for example, who paid for the television coverage of his Atlanta funeral.

Many others, like one from Clemson Professor E. M. Lander, were reasoned, warm, and understanding of the passions that had been unleashed by the assassination.

Editor's note: For more than 140 years, The Greenville News has told the story of our community and the people who live here. Each day this year we are publishing a brief piece of our history – Greenville's story.